Mitt Romney picked up a pair of victories Tuesday night, with a decisive win in Arizona and a narrow, three-point win in Michigan over former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

“Just a week ago the pundits and the pollsters were ready to count us out,” Mr. Romney, who grew up in Michigan, told an enthusiastic crowd of supporters at his election night rally. “We didn’t win by a lot, but we won by enough, and that’s all that counts.”

Texas Rep. Ron Paul and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich lagged behind in both Arizona and Michigan.

Today’s results set the stage for Super Tuesday a week from now, when 10 states cast their ballots and define the shape of the Republican contest.The key battleground for Messrs. Romney and Santorum: Ohio.

In an email to supporters, Rick Santorumâ€™s campaign seeks last-minute donations and expresses optimism about results today. â€œVoting is underway in Michigan and Arizona and from what we are hearing on the ground, our campaign is surging towards the finish line,â€

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said the 2012 election is about freedom and stopping government interference in the lives of Americans.

The former Pennsylvania senator spoke to about 500 people at a hotel in Perrysburg in northwest Ohio on Tuesday, a week before the state’s primary. Mr. Santorum said oil prices are rising while the Obama administration blocks access to fossil fuels that could lower prices and help the economy.

He didn’t mention rival Mitt Romney by name but referred to him as “uniquely unqualified” to unseat President Barack Obama. Mr. Santorum said the former Massachusetts governor and Mr. Obama are both architects of bad health insurance programs. He said the Republican Party needs a nominee with a “sharper contrast.”

He also predicted his performance in Michigan’s primary Tuesday will surprise people.

Mitt Romney, locked in a tight race in Michigan’s GOP primary, predicted he’ll eventually become the Republican presidential nominee but said “this isn’t going to be over in a day or two.”

The former Massachusetts governor, who was born and raised in Michigan, says he “anticipates becoming” the GOP nominee. “I understand job creation from a personal standpoint and from a theoretical standpoint. I want to use those skills to help the country and if I get selected, great, and if I don’t I can live with that too,” he told reporters earlier Tuesday at an appearance at his Michigan campaign headquarters. “I’m putting myself out there because I think I can do a better job getting America back on track,” he said.

ROME, Ga. — With the political world Tuesday night focused on the blue-collar Midwest, Newt Gingrich here reopened one of his more populist lines of attack on Mitt Romney.

“I can’t match Mitt Romney’s money because he raises from Wall Street,” Mr. Gingrich told a crowd in a small airport hangar here. He suggested campaign contributions from the financial sector come from “a lot of the money that we sent as taxpayers to bail them out.”

Mr. Gingrich had mostly stopped attacking Mr. Romney for his ties to the financial sector following losses in Florida and Nevada. But the latest jab comes as Rick Santorum argues Mr. Romney is out of touch and hypocritical for supporting bailout funds for the financial industry but not American auto makers.

The former House speaker also said Mr. Santorum “is a fine person, but the fact is, in order to move this country you need someone with a much broader program and a much broader scale of change.”

Mr. Gingrich had all but stopped mentioning his rivals on the stump, suggesting he was trying to keep the focus on him and away from his rivals.

Newt Gingrich plans to campaign heavily in Georgia, a state where he has effectively staked his candidacy. At a stop in Rome, Ga., the former House speaker said he isÂ seeking volunteers to campaign for him at local gas stations before Super Tuesday. Supporters will be told to ask motorists to calculate how much they’d save if gas was $2.50 a gallon — the price Mr. Gingrich often says would be the norm if he was elected.

CNN reports that early exit polls in Michigan’s GOP primary suggest voters aren’t happy with the Republican field and a fair number of Democrats are casting ballots. A measure of the discontent: Less than half of those surveyedÂ said they strongly favor the candidate they voted for. CNN also said one in 10 voters identified themselves as Democrats, while six in 10 voters said they were Republicans.

More than four in 10 voters in Michigan’s Republican presidential primary said Tuesday they supported the federal bailout of the auto industry, according to early results of an exit poll of voters there. Both major candidates in the race opposed the aid.

The Michigan survey provided a sketch of voters in a state that was among the hardest hit by the recession. Three in 10 said someone in their household had lost a job in the past three years, and nearly 1 in 4 said somebody in their home was a union member.

With Newt Gingrich not competing in Tuesday night’s contests in Michigan and Arizona, his spokesman tried to set expectations for the stagnant campaign in next week’s Super Tuesday elections.

Speaking to reporters before Mr. Gingrich’s speech at the University of West Georgia, where the candidate used to teach history, campaign spokesman R.C. Hammond said the goal is to make sure no one else “runs away” with the nomination next week.

As he put it, the goal is to make sure the spread in the delegate race remains proportionally the same after the 10 contests on March 6.

On the fund-raising front, Mr. Gingrich has started asking people to donate to his campaign in $2.50 increments. He calls it “Newt gallons,” referring to his campaign promise to bring the average price of gasoline down to $2.50 if heâ€™s elected president.

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Since Friday, he has received more than 150 $2.50 donations and more than 1,400 $25 donations, his campaign said. That works out to about $35,375, not much more than the maximum individual donation to a national party committee.

Jackie Gingrich Cushman, Mr. Gingrich’s daughter, got a bit off message as she filled time at a campaign event for her father, who was running late.

Speaking to mostly college students at the University of West Georgia, Ms. Cushman said, “this is a guy who was a conservative who actually cared about the environment.”Â Mr. Gingrich used to teach an environmental studies course.

Polls closed in most of Michigan Tuesday and vote-counting began, after a final day of campaigning that saw supporters of Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum spar over efforts by Mr. Santorum to get Democrats to vote in Michiganâ€™s contest.

Voting was to finish soon in the Arizona primary, where most polling places close at 9 p.m. Eastern time and a few at 10 p.m. In Michigan, a few polling places close at 9 p.m.

Callista Gingrich introduces her husband here at the University of West Georgia and sticks to her usual stump speech. No mention yet from anyone on stage about the voting in Michigan and Arizona. “Our only opponent is Barack Obama,” she says.

With 1% of votes counted in Michigan, Rick Santorum is in the lead with 41% followed by Mitt Romney with 34, and Ron Paul, 11% and Newt Gingrich 7%. We’ve got a lot more counting to do, and it could be a long night.

CARROLLTON, Ga. — Newt Gingrich is several minutes into his speech here at the University of West Georgia and is yet to say the words “Michigan,” or “Arizona.” Instead the former House speaker, who used to teach here, just finished an extended tale of the time he tried to bring down a large tree with a friend from the college.

Using a rope, they tried to pull the falling trunk away from his friend’s house, but the tree was too big.Â “It accelerated coming across, those of you who are physics majors can probably figure out the exact speedâ€¦ doubles every second or something,” Mr. Gingrich said.

A girl in the crowd laughed loudly.

Mr. Gingrich explained that the tree indeed fell on his friend’s home.

With about 4% of the vote counted in Michigan, the race has tightened. Rick Santorum holds onto a slim lead at 40%. Mitt Romney is right behind at 39%, with Ron Paul at 10% and Newt Gingrich at 7%. Still a long way to go.

There’s a lot of uncertainty in the Romney camp here at the Diamond Center in Novi, Mich., for Mitt Romney‘s election night party. Aides aren’t certain how effective Rick Santorum‘s calls to Democrats will prove to be — a wild card tonight.

The Associated Press, along with CNN, Fox, NBC and others callthe Arizona contest for Mitt Romney, based on exit polls. Balloting ended in the state at 9 p.m. eastern time.

Photo: Supporters of Mitt Romney cheer in reaction to news that Romney was the projected winner in the Arizona primary, at his election watch party in Novi, Mich., Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

With 16% of the vote counted in Michigan, the race has shifted: Â Â Mitt Romney has taken the lead with 41% of the vote. Rick Santorum follows with 38%. Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich remain steady at11% and 7%, respectively.

Mr. Romney’s electability was a factor for some voters. Eric Brodsky, a teacher voting in Farmington Hills, said he had only one issue: â€œThe economy.â€

Bill Schuette, Michigan’s attorney general and chairman of Mitt Romney‘s presidentialÂ campaign in the state, stopped short of predicting a Romney win in Michigan. “We have the juice and the legs to go the distance” to win the GOP nomination, he said. “Mitt has worked very hard and he’s sharpened his message.”

Mr. Schuette says “we’re going to have a big night here and in Arizona.”Â As for Michigan, he said: “Check with me in an hour.”

Mitt Romney is holding a narrow lead of roughly 12,000 votes, or 3 percentage points, in early returns from Michiganâ€™s primary voting. But some key counties and precincts arenâ€™t in yet. In Kent County, which includes the city of Grand Rapids, Rick Santorum has a slim lead of 1,969 votes to Mr. Romneyâ€™s 1,617 â€“ with just 13 of 250 precincts reporting. In the 2008 GOP presidential primary, Mr. Romney carried Kent County by 7 percentage points.

CARROLLTON, Ga. â€“Newt Gingrich appeared to come out fighting as he took the stage for his election-night rally.Â Warm-up music included the theme song for professional wrestler Hulk Hogan and “You’re the Best,” a 1980s hit by Joe Esposito featured prominently in the movie “Karate Kid.”

“I felt like Rocky was about to get in nine rounds with the Russian,” said Aaron Decker, 20 years old, a marketing major here at the University of West Georgia. “It’s a little different.”

But Mr. Gingrich himself offered few jabs or hooks, making only passing references to Mitt Romney, no mention of Rick Santorum and no mention of Tuesdayâ€™s contests in Arizona and Michigan. He again said heâ€™s the candidate who can best take on President Barack Obama.

“The challenge for us is to provide a clear and competing alternative,” Mr. Gingrich told the crowd of more than 1,000 at the University of West Georgia, where he used to teach. “We really need someone understands the change we need, who has really large ideas for a really large country.”

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The former speaker held a small press conference with local reporters afterward. Reporters for national publications, including The Wall Street Journal, were not invited.

Early Michigan voting suggests that Mitt Romney has two strongholds in his native state: Metro Detroit, and the northern Michigan resort areas where affluent Detroiters have second homes and vacation haunts. Mr. Romney is starting to open up wide leads in the big Southeast Michigan counties — Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw â€“ which is home to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan. Thatâ€™s largely as expected given Mr. Romneyâ€™s roots as the son of a well-known former auto executive and governor. Mr. Romneyâ€™s also doing well in the counties along the northern coast of Michiganâ€™s lower peninsula â€“ including Grand Traverse, Charlevoix and Cheboygan. These resort areas are popular with affluent auto industry retirees â€“ and stand out from a map where Rick Santorum is winning in many of the counties along Michiganâ€™s southwest Lake Michigan shoreline.

Mitt Romney did particularly well among Michigan voters who rated the economy as the most important issue in the race, and who wanted a candidate capable of beating President Barack Obama.

Exit polls showed that 54% of Michigan voters judged the economy the most important issue in the race. Of those, 45% chose Mr. Romney, compared with 29% for Mr. Santorum. Far down the list of issues important to voters was abortion. Only 14% considered abortion to be the overriding issue.

Asked to rate the most important qualities in a candidate, a plurality wanted someone who can defeat Mr. Obama in the fall. Mr. Romney fared best among those voters, capturing 61% compared with 24% for Mr. Santorum. Less important to voters was a candidateâ€™s conservatism, moral character and experience.

Rick Santorum, addressing his supporters, adds to the list of people he thanks: his 93-year-old mother, his wife, Karen, and his eldest daughter, Elizabeth. His point: He’s surrounded by strong women. Could that be an acknowledgement of the gender gap that showed up in today’s exit polls in Michigan?

Mitt Romney did well in OaklandÂ and Macomb counties, the two populous suburban counties north of Detroit that national poll watchers and pundits look to as bellwethers for Michiganâ€™s diverse electorate. In Oakland, Mr. Romney is winning in the affluent suburbs of West Bloomfield, Bloomfield, Novi, and Troy. Rick Santorum is ahead in more Democratic precincts in the suburbs Southfield and Ferndale, both adjacent to Detroit. The former Pennsylvania senator is also doing well in the exurban, northern precincts of the county. But official Oakland County clerkâ€™s office precinct map shows some splotches of red in the city of Pontiac, Oak Park and Ferndale where Texas Rep. Ron Paul has a lead.

Meanwhile, to the east in Macomb County, Mr. Romney has a lead of a bit more than 8 points over Mr. Santorum with 76.5% of the precincts reporting.Â Mr. Paul was holding on to 11.5% of the vote. The Romney win in Macomb could come in handy as Mr. Romney tries to turn around his deficit in the polls in Ohio, where many voters have a similar profile to those in Macomb â€“ middle income families whose livelihoods depend on manufacturing.

Comments (5 of 20)

The best commander of U.S. forces inside the Middle East singled out Iran because the only country actively attempting to destabilize and spark violence inside the region.
"Iran presents one of the most substantial regional threat to stability and security," Gen.
James Mattis, head from the U.S. Central Command, said at a Senate Armed Solutions Committee hearing Tuesday. "Its reckless behavior and bellicose rhetoric have designed a high prospective for miscalculation." Read also: U.S and others offer you to restart nuclear talks with Iran Listing Iranian weapon capabilities including ballistic missiles, long-range rockets, mines, tiny boats, cruise missiles and submarines, Mattis mentioned future threats in the region "are increasingly maritime" and known as on Congress to shield the spending budget to let for proper equipping of his forces.
"I anticipate that we are going to require much more maritime missile defense, anti-fast attack craft capabilities, amphibious ships and mine-countermeasure capability, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets," Mattis said in written testimony.
Mattis also detailed how Iran was helping Syria, a connection CNN's Barbara Starr reported about on Monday.
The common also warned of Syria's weapons stash, saying the country's regime has a substantial level of chemical and biological weapons, a substantial integrated air defense technique, and thousands of shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles.

1:03 pm February 29, 2012

Anna wrote:

He deserves nothing. he can appeal to the democrats for assistance. HE IS GOOD AT THAT.

12:17 pm February 29, 2012

Life is unfair wrote:

Mitt wins, he's 65, tired, worn out, no money left, He will win like a hero, bleeding and out of breadth.

Then there is a 6 foot three, athletic, charismatic, incumbent President, rested, with loads and loads of money and motivated supporters waiting to run against poor Mitt.

Life is unfair.

12:03 pm February 29, 2012

Praying in Mormon wrote:

When you have a candidate few people really like, whose support is a mile wide and an inch deep, whose raison d’être (he speaks french) is fixing an economy that is fixing itself without him, and who only wins his actual, factual home state by three percentage points against a guy who insults everybody and no one took seriously only two months ago, there really is little reason for independent voters in the general election to choose him if the economy keeps improving.

Seriously, putting it bluntly, conservatives may not like Barack Obama, but most other people do. And when faced with a guy you like and a guy you don’t like who says he can fix an economy that no longer needs fixing, you’re going to go with the guy you like.

If Republicans in Washington are not panicked and trying desperately to pull someone else in the race tomorrow, the party leaders must have a death wish.Mitt Romney continues to run an uninspiring campaign only able to win by massively outspending his opponents to tell voters how much worse the other guys are. He is also running out of money. That may work in the primary, but it will not work in a general election where the President of the United States may raise about one billion dollars and won’t be outspent 5 to 1.

Three percentage points. In his home state. In his wife’s home state. In the state his father served as Governor. Three percentage points against a guy few took seriously two months ago and who just three weeks ago no one expected to give Romney a run for his money in Romney’s home state.

And this is our nominee — a guy who can only win in states with a home state advantage, New Englanders and New England transplants, and Mormoms. There are a lot more outside those categories than inside them and that is shaping up to cause him heartburn on Super Tuesday. And let me tell you what else is going to happen: Democrats sense such a strong vulnerability now and sniff a chance of a Santorum nomination, they aren’t going to wait for the general election to start dumping oppo research on Romney. Get ready Romney supporters, this is just the opening salvo.

But I suspect he will be the nominee. At least we can be rid of him and, hopefully, his most ardent cheerleaders on November 7th when what the rest of us know will happen unless an economic catastrophe happens.

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